Cotton-blocking attachment for cultivators.



J. 0. WRIGHT.

COTTON BLOCKING ATTACHMENT FOR GULTIVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 19

Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

WITNESSES:

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0. WASHINGTON, D. c.

JOHN C. WEIGHT, 013 BURNET, TEXAS.

COTTON-BLOCKING ATTACHMENT FOR CULTIVATORS.

Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

Application filed September 5, 1913. Serial No. 738,275.

ton into hills, at the same time that the row is being cultivated.

The object of my invention more specifically stated is to provide a cotton blocking attachment for cultivato-rs comprising a wheel formed with a plurality of gaps in its face, which wheel, during the progress of the cultivator along a row of cotton will crush certain portions of the row with which the solid portion of said wheel comes in contact, the apertured portion of the wheels causing equidistant hills of plants to be left in the row.

Finally the object of my invention is to provide a device of the character described, that will be strong, durable, simple and efficient and comparatively easy to construct, and also one, the various parts of which will not be likely to get out of working order.

With these and various other objects in view, my invention has relation to certain novel features in the construction and operation, an example of which is described in the following specification, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 1s a view showing in side elevation a cultivator with which is correlated my novel cotton blocking attachment. Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same. Fig. 3 is a view showing in side elevation my cotton blocking attachment separate from the cultivator. Fig. 4 is a detail top view showing a gap wheel embodied in my attachment, together with the bracket in which said wheel is mounted. Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the upper end of a rod serving to secure my attachment to the tongue of a cultivator.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, wherein like reference characters designate similar parts in all the figures, the numeral 1 denotes a pair of transporting wheels, carried by the extremity of an arched cultivator axle comprising a horizontal center portion 2, vertical lateral portioni3,and outwardly turned end portions 4:. A tongue P has its rear extremity mounted centrally upon the axle in the usual manner, said tongue being connected with' the axle extremities 4 by a pair of inclined brace members 5. Upon the end portions 4 of the axle, there are pivotally mounted in the usual manner, the forward extremities of a pair of rearwardly extending cultivator bfams, 6, supporting the usual plow shove s The numeral 8 designates a pair of plow handles, which are commonly mounted upon the rear ends of the beams 6.

At a point 9 upon the tongue of the cultivator, there is pivotally attached the swivel head '10 of a bar 11, the members 10 and 11 being swivelly connected. This swivel connection is established by forming upon the member 11 a pin 12 entering a suitable socket in the head 10, said pin being held in its correlated socket by mounting a rivet 13 in the pin extremity. In order to permit the rivet 13 to be mounted in the pin 12 and produce a space within which said rivet may turn during swivel movement of the joint, an aperture 14 is formed in the member 10, into which aperture the pin extremity projects. The bar 11 has a knuckle joint connection 14: at its lower extremity with a substantially horizontal rearwardly extending bar 14? lying substantially equidistant from the transporting wheels, the joint 14* is such as to allow an angular displacement between the members 11 and 14 about a horizontal axis transverse of the cultivator.

To the rear extremity of the bar 14L there is connected a U-shaped bracket 15 by a knuckle joint connection 16. The connection 16 is such as to permit relative angular displacement between the members 14" and 15 about a vertical axis only. In the bracket 15, there is mounted a gap wheel 17 carried by an axle 18 having its extremities journaled in the rear ends of the bracket 15. The gaps 19 formed in the base of the wheel 17 are equidistant-1y spaced, and extend toward the center of the wheel, a distance slightly greater than the height of the plants which are to be blocked out.

Upon the rear face of the bar 11, there is rigidly mounted an angular bracket 20 in which is loosely mounted one extremity of a rod 21 substantially parallel to the bar 11, having its other or lower extremity pivotally connected to the rear end of the bar 14:" as indicated at 22. Upon the bolt 21, there is coiled a spring 23 abutting at its upper end against the bracket 20 and at its lower end against a nut 2% upon the lower extremity of said bolt.

The effect of the connection established between the members 11 and. 14 by the parts 21, 22, 23, and 2 1 is to exert upon the member 1 1 a constant tendency to downward angular displacement about the joint 14. Thus during the travel of the cultivator equipped with my attachment, the wheel 17 is held in contact with the ground not only by its own weight and the weight of the members 14: and 15 but also by the force induced in the spring 21 by its compression.

The shaft 18 will preferably project beyond the bracket 15 at each side thereof, and its extremities will be pivotally connected with the beam 6 by bracket members 25.

In the operation of the above described invention, the cultivator travels along the row of cotton plants, straddling the row, the plows carried by the cultivator beam serving to turn up the ground adjacent to the row at each side thereof, while the wheel 17 runs upon the row, blocking out portions thereof equal in length to the circumferential length of the segments of the wheel formed between the gaps 19 therein. The distance between the blocked out portions of the row, or in other words the length of any hill in the row will be equal to the distance between the walls of any gap 19 and the wheel 17 Those plants of a row which enter the gaps 19 during the travel of the wheel 17 will not be injured but will form the hills between the blocked out portions of the row. The cultivator plows carried by the standard 7 traveling slightly to the rear of the wheel 17 will throw earth upon the blocked out plants so as to effectually pre vent their further growth.

The size of the wheel 17 and the number of equidistant gaps 19 in the face of said wheel may be varied to produce a predetermined spacing of the hills of a row and produce hills of a predetermined size.

The invention is presented as including such modifications and changes as properly come within the scope of the following claims:

What I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described,

the combination with a wheeled frame, of a bar pivotally mounted at one extremity upon said frame, a second bar extending rearwardly from the first specified bar, a U- shaped bracket pivotally supported by the rear extremity of the second bar, and a gap wheel rotatably mounted in the U -shaped bracket.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a wheeled frame, of a. bar rearwardly and downwardly inclined from said frame and pivotally connected to the frame at its upper end, a second bar pivotally connected at its forward end to the lower end of the first specified bar, a spring mounted at the juncture of the two said bars exerting a tendency to downward angular displacement upon the second bar, a bracket carried by the rear extremity of the second bar, and a gap wheel mounted in said bracket.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a wheeled frame, of a bar extending rearwardly and downwardly from said frame and pivotally connected thereto at its upper end, a second bar pivotally connected at its forward end to the lower end of the first specified bar, a spring correlated with the two said bars at their juncture exerting a tendency to downward displacement upon the second bar, a bracket pivotally connected to the rear end of the second bar, the pivot axis being vertical, and a gap wheel mounted rotatably in said bracket.

4t.- In a device of the character described, the combination with a wheeled frame, of abar extending rearwardly and downwardly from said frame and pivotally connected to said frame at its upper extremity, the pivotal axis being horizontal, a swivel head in cluded in the upper'end of said bar, a second bar extending rearwardly from the first specified bar and pivotally connected to the lower end thereof at its forward extremity, a bracket pivotally mounted upon the rear extremity of the second bar, and a gap wheel rotatably mounted in said bracket.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN C. WRIGHT.

lVitnesses: I

lVnLLin B. llfiARCUS, D. C. REED.

flopiea oi this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

